13 Questions With Mickey Rourke

Quick Bio

Mickey Rourke was born in New York in 1952, and his father left the family home when he was just 6 years old. From a young age, Rourke took an interest in the art of boxing. He competed at amateur level up until his early 20s, when doctors advised him to take a year out of the ring.

After deciding that he would pursue a career in acting, Mickey Rourke took up lessons and made his debut in the Steven Spielberg film 1941. Other roles followed, but it was his portrayal of an arsonist in the film Body Heat that brought him to the attention of the masses.

During the early '80s, Rourke came into his own with roles in top films such as 9 1/2 Weeks, Barfly and the cult classic Diner. He was on a roll and being compared with the likes of Marlon Brando. And then things began to take a turn for the worse. Mickey Rourke began turning down a series of high-profile roles, and he started to build a reputation in Hollywood as an actor who was difficult to work with.

In 1991, Rourke retreated back to the ring and, for four years, he competed as a professional boxer against low-level opponents before going back to acting.

Mickey Rourke’s work in The Wrestler in 2008 finally won him back the respect from the industry that he craved. His part in the film saw him nominated for the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards, and he received the first Golden Globe of his career for Best Actor. The Wrestler has already won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, and Mickey Rourke is now the hot favourite to pick up the Oscar for Best Actor in 2009.

With his pet Chihuahua Loki by his side, Mickey Rourke let our UK editor Andrew Lubega in on how he escaped the Hollywood wilderness to come back from the edge.

Hey Mickey, nice Chihuahua you've got there. Didn’t you once quit a film you were shooting over one of your dogs?

Mickey Rourke: Yes, it was actually Loki’s dad, who has since died. The producer comes over to me and goes, “I don’t want the dog in the scene.” I was like, “You don’t make the f*cking choices!” I was flat broke, but never in 15 f*cking years has a producer told me what my choice could be, so I quit. I was out of work at that time and it was a piece of shit independent movie anyway, and the producer was a piece of shit.

There’s a lot of '80s music in The Wrestler - are you a fan?

MR: No. Well, Guns N' Roses, yeah, and Axl is a friend of mine. When I used to box I came out to Sweet Child o’ Mine. In The Wrestler, with a $5.5 million budget, we couldn’t afford that kind of music so they gave it to us, which was something special.

So it was a cheap film to make, but it turned out pretty well. When did you realise you might be on to a good thing with The Wrestler?

MR: After about six days of working with Darren Aronofsky (the director), I realised something special was going on and it kept getting better and better. I read the script and thought it was OK, but Darren let me rewrite the scenes with the daughter and the steroids. There was also the speech at the end that made it personal. We took it to another level with Darren’s subtle adjustments. It’s very rare that that kind of shit just happens.

How did you find working alongside Evan Rachel Wood?

MR: Thank God we hired her -- she’s a tremendous actor. She had (had) some issues with her father (that) were kind of similar to her character. Before my first scene with Evan, we hadn’t even introduced ourselves to each other -- we just went in and there was no “hello." I was thinking, "Wow, she’s good: she’s only 20 years old and she’s bringing it!"

Was it Hollywood that messed up your personal life?

MR: It wasn’t really Hollywood -- it was my mindset. When I got to Los Angeles I saw that it’s not just about the acting -- it’s a business and it’s political and I had no knowledge of dealing with that.

You look at some other guy they’re calling a "movie star" and the guy can’t carry a jockstrap. What happened is because of my temperament and my upbringing. I took it personal and I short-circuited.

Quick Fact

Mickey Rourke has at least seven tattoos including a tiger head with Chinese symbols on his left shoulder, a bull's skull on his right bicep and a shamrock on his left forearm.

Are you ready to play the Hollywood game now?

MR: Well, I’ve been in therapy for the last 13 years. I had some issues from my childhood that I had to straighten out that I had never dealt with. Previously authority was a big problem for me and I took everything personally.